Brake mechanism



March 25 1924.

. C. Jv MCNERNY BRAKE MECHANISM Fi led Sept. 25,

1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 A TTORNEY.

March 25 1924. 1,488,917

' c. J. MCNERNY BRAKE MECHANI SM Filed Sept. 25 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2'"r WWW"? 61 A TTORNE Y.

Patented Mar. 25, 1924.

UNITE CLYDE JOHN MGNERNY, OF CHiKT EILIi OGG'A, TENNESSEE.

BRAKE MECHANISM.

Application filed September 25,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CLYDE J. MGNERNY, acitizen of the United States, residing at Chattanooga, in the county ofHamilton and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in a Brake lilechanism, of which the following is aspecification.

This invention relates to automobile brakes and more specifically tothat type of motor vehicle brakes which are operated from the engineexhaust.

One of the objects of my invention is to utilize a portion of theexhaust of certain cylinders of an internal combustion engine of a motorvehicle to supply a compression tank or reservoir and means topositively control the vehicle brakes by said exhaust.

A. still further object of m .on resides in a motor vehicle bra m of theabove type and auxiliary meansfor supplying air to a compression tank orreservoir from one of the cylinders when. the motor is cut off.

Another and very important object of my novel brake mecl'ianisin residesin the provision of an auxiliary conduit for connection with the brakesof a trailer or trailers drawn by the motor vehicle and valve controlmechanism for regulating the pressure applied to the brakes.

Another object of my invention is directed to a brak mechanism andequalizer therefor supported in proximity to the rear axle of a wormdriven vehicle whereby the braking power will not be affected by theload carried.

in the accompanying drawings, l have illustrated my invention embodiedin one form by way of example, and which in practice has been found tobe highly satisfactory in obtaining the desired results. It will beobvious however, that other embodiments in so far as such limitationsare specified in the subject matter being claimed.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of the invention strictedto the precise elements shown except 1920. Serial No. 412,719.

Figure 1 is a plan view of the chassis of a motor vehicle with the brakemechanism applied.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view showing the means of conducting theexhaust from the cylinders.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary detail of the steering wheel and the valvemechanism for controlling the air under pressure.

Figure at is a plan of valve detached from the steering wheel.

Figures 5, 6, and 7 are details of the valve in different positions.

Figure 8 is a section of a ball valve in the pipe conduit between themotor and reser- VOlI'.

Figure 9 is a detail of the brake cylinder.

Similar numerals in the specification refer to like or similar partsthroughout the several views, in which,

A conventional type of automobile or truck has a chassis 1, a rear axlewith the usual casing 2, rear supporting wheels 3 and an engine 4 at thefront of the machine provided with the spark plu s 5, three of which areprovided with nipples communicating to the usual spark plug housings(not shown) all of which are positioned in the same general arrangementas shown and described in my copending application Serial No. 362,041vfiled Feb. 28, 1920.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, short conduits 6, 7 are connected at one endwith the spark plug housings and threaded at their opposite ends 8, 9 toa ball valve casing 10 positioned below and centrally of the engine, theconduit 6 being supplied with a cut off valve 6 Communicating with andextending from the ball valve casing 10 is a vertically disposed conduit11, having an angle shaped extension 12 which is connected to andcommunicates with one of the cylinders of the motor. The vertical leg ofthe angle shaped extension 12 of the conduit 11 is provided witha'clieck valve 13, and is also provided with a cutoff valve 18, which ispositioned between the check valve 13 and the lower end of the verticalleg of the extension 12. The check valve 13 is provided for the purposeof closing the extension 12 to the cylinder' with which, itcommunicates, and is closed by back'pressure from the other cylinders orby back pressure from the reservoir 18 when the cutoii valve 18 is movedto open position so that the conduit 11 can communicate with thatcylinder with which it is connected. The cut-oil valve 13, normally isin closed position, and under such conditions the conduit 12 is normallyclosed to the cylinder with which it communicates. The purpose of theconduit 11, check valve 13 and cut-oil valve 13 will be further referredto.

Communicating with and extending from the casing 10, is the dependingextension 16, oi a longitudinally disposed conduit 15, whichcommunicates with a fluid pressure reservoir 18, situated below andpositioned rearwardly with respect to the steering column of thevehicle.

The valve casing 10 is of inverted U-shape and near one end of the topthereoi the conduit 11 opens thereinto, and near the other end of thetop thereof, extension 16 opens thereinto. Each oi the legs oi thecasing 10, intermediate the ends thereof, is provided with a valve seatand the said seats are indicated at 21, Associated with each of thevalve seats, for the purpose of closing the lower portions of the legsof the casing 10 to the upper portion of said casing, is a pair oi ballvalves and vhich indicated at 19, 20, the former associating with theseat 21 and the latter with the seat 22. The legs of the casing 10 areformed intermediate their ends with passages and whicn are indicated at28, 24, and which are employed iior establishing communication betweenthe lower and upper portions of the legs when the valves 19 and 20 areshii ted from their seats.

Arranged within the upper portion or the casing 10 and directly in thepath oi movement of the ball valves, are stops 20 for arresting theupward movement oi said valves.

One of the legs of the casing 19 has the conduit 6 connected therewithand which opens into the lower portion of such. lee below the valve seat21 and the other or the legs of the casing 10 has connected to the lowerportion thereof the conduit 7 which opens into said leg below the valveseat 22. The conduit 15, intermediate its ends, is provided with a checkvalve 25.

As the valves 19 and 20 are arranged in the legs of the casing 10 andhave their upward movement arrested by the stops 20, the conduit 11 isalways in communication with the extension 16 of the conduit and whichis provided for by the upper portion ofthe casing 10. Rei erence'is hadto Figure '8. When the valves 19 and are retained on their seats by backpressure from the reservoir 18, communication is shut oil between theconduits 6 and 7 and the con duit 15.

As shown in Figure 1, the conduit 6 leads from one oi the cylinders ofthe motor and the conduit 7 from another cylinder oi the motor, and thatthe said conduits 6 and 7 open into the casing 10, and when the valves19 and 20 are unseated, it will permit of the pressure to conducted fromthe two cylinders, passed through the casing 10, into the conduit 15,through the checl: valve and into the main reservoir 18, and whichmaintains the pressure under ordinary conditions in the reservoir 18 forbraking purposes. The check valve 25' is a eeniunon ball check oi a typecommonly used on air or any other type oi pressure retaining systems andis employed as an emergency check. Should the valves 19 and 20 in thecasing 10, become unseated by carbon or other foreign mattr, check valve25 would retain the pressure in the reservoir 18. The location of thevalves 19 and 20, is such distance "from the cylinders and as theconduits 6 and 7 are of very small diameter, it is almost impossible forany raw to get through these conduits, as the compression pressure ofthe motor is not high enough to lift the checks that distance from thecylinder and the outcome is that the checks lift and permit pressure togo to the reservoir 18 only on the expansion stroke.

The conduit 11 which is provided with the extension 12, as bei orestated, has a check valve 13, positioned above the cut-oil 13 and thelocation of the check valve and cutoff is so close to the motor as topermit the operator to lreep the main reservoir charged at all times onlong hills.

It will be seen from the above that the air and some gas from thecarburetor and cylinders will be conveyed through the conducts 6, '4"and the ball valve and the communicating longitudinal conduit 15 to thecompression tank or reservoir 18 where the gas under pressure iscontrolled by the op erator and applied to the brake mechanism now to bedescribed.

Again referring to Fig. 1, a brake cylinder 25 communicates with thereservoir through conduits 26, 27, a valve designated in its entirety bynumeral 28 being interposed between the conduit 27 and the reser- Theusual pressure gage voir conduit 18. 30 in proximity to the steeringcolumn and seat oi the operator indicates the pressure in the reservoir.The brake cylinder 25 is supported as at 30 by the harp 31 which ispermanently bolted as at 32 to the aide, the said bralre cylinder andharp being positioned below the drive shaft 33 so that the brakingmechanism will not be affected by the load on the rear axle. The brakecylinder 25 has the usual piston and connecting rod 35 which operatesthrough the opening 36-to thrust the central roller carrying frame 37connected to the rod 35 rearwardly. The

usual spring 38 bearing against the piston and rear wall 39 normallyresists its rearward movement and a vent port 40 in the rear wall 39 isprovided for the obvious purose.

'The roller 40 supported by pins 41 in the frame 37 carries a cable 42which is trained about oppositely positioned rollers 13, 41 i.rotatableon the side arms it of the harp. The cable 4L2 extendsrearwardly as at 4.7 to the usual brake rods 48, which are connected byforwardly extending members 50, 51 to a cross rod and foot operatinglever (not shown) for applying the brakes.

The valve mechanism above referred to for controlling the gas underpressure to the brake cylinder, is preferably supported by the steeringcolumn 52, a split ring 53 bolted as at 54 permanently supporting an outwardly and upwardly extending arm 55 which carries a three way valve 56.A conduit 57 communicates with the passage 58 and as shown in Fig. 6when the valve 56 is opened, the compressed gas from the reservoir willbe directed to the passage 60 leading to the brake cylinder. A suitablehand control 61 rotates the three way valve in its seat 62, the saidhand control being in proximity to the steering wheel 63 so that it maybe conveniently operated without the driver removing his hands from thesteering mechanism. The central passage Get for the exhaust communicateswith the three way valve and as shown in Fig. 7 when I opened relievesthe pressure from the brakes.

Fig. 5 shows the valve in its neutral position, passage 58 from thereservoir and passage 60 to the brake cylinder being closed. Now whenpressure is to be applied to the brakes, the valve is turned to theposition. shown in Fig. 6 and the direct conn. u tion with the brakecylinder is had. W hen it is desired to release the brakes, the valve isagain turned to the position shown in Fig. 7 and the passage 60communicates with the exhaust passage 64 and pressure is released fromthe brake.

Particular attention is directed to Fig. 2

, where is shown the cut oil valve 13 operatet by a lever 66 andconnecting rod 67 having a hand hold 68 within easy reach or". thedriver. In coasting down long hills, the motor is generally cut off andstops firing and in order to supply air in this instance the valve 13 isopened and air is supplied to and pumped from the cylinder to thereservoir. lln this manner it will be seen that I provide means forsupplying and spent gases to the reservoir under all conditions when themachine is travelling.

Additional conduits 69, 70 extend rearwardly to a connection 71 to thebra mechanism for trailers (not shown) and it will be obvious that themechanism may be controlled from the drivers seat in the above describedmanner. Leading from the reservoir 18 is a conduit 71, which terminatesin a siren 7 3, at the front or the vehicle, and extended from theconduit 71 is a branch conduit 72 which terminates in a signal 7 1. Theoperation of the siren 73 is controlled by a valve 76 which is providedwith a handle 7 5. By opening valve 76, through the medium or the handle75, air will pass through the conduit 71 and operate the siren 7 3. Thesignal 74: is a small whistle and is operated in any suitable manner,preferably through the medium of a cord or cable, not shown, and thecable or cord is so arranged as to extend over the rear of the truck andinto a trailer so as to permit any one riding on the trailer on the rearof the truck to notify the driver by giving two pulls on the cord orcable so as to operate the whistle 7a. The whistle 7% can be eliminatedif desired.

In the operation of the brake mechanism, as the engine is running, spentgases from the end cylinders will be led through conduits 6, 7 to theball valve casing 10 and thence to the tank or reservoir 18. The conduit11, checl: valve 13 and cut-oft valve 13 are used for emergency purposesfor cutting 11). an additional cylinder to supply air to the reservoir18 on long hills, and by this arrangement it is possible for a tractoror truck to handle any number of trailers travelling down hill whenordinary traffic is feasible and when the motor is running by the momentum of the truck but not firing with both gasoline and spark shutoff. Should the operator find that the main reservoir pressure obtainedfrom the cylinders with which communicate the conduits 6 and 7, is nothigh enough to eiiiciently handle the brakes, the cut-oil valve 13 isopened and in connection with that cylinder with which the conduit 1 1communicates, a means is provided for supplying additional pressure tothe reservoir 18, and in this connection the cylinder with the conduit11 communicates, as well as those cylinders from which the conduits 6, 7lead, operate as air pumps directly charging the reservoir 18, wherebythe reservoir is charged with sufficient pressure to efficiently handlethe brakes. The cut-off valve 13 is only opened in the emergencyreferred to and furthermore is never opened when the motor is firing, asthe cylinders with which communicate the conduits ti and 7 are onlyrequired to supply the reservoir with the necessary pressure when themotor is firing. i now it becomes necessary to apply the brakes, theoperator turns the lever 61 from its neutral position, Fig. 5, to itsoperating position indicated by Fig. 6 and the or air under pressurewill be communicated to the brake cylinder 25. As the piston 34connecting rod 35 and roller carrying frame 37 are thrust rearwardly,the cable i7 will actuate the brake rods 18 in the well known manner.

When it is desired to release the brakes the control 61 is turned to theposition shown in Fig. 7 and the pressure is released through theexhaust 64 in the above described In the accompanying drawings, I haveillustrated my invention embodied in one form by way of example, andwhich in practice has been found to be highly satisfactory in obtainingthe desired results. It will be obvious however, that other embodimentsmay be adopted, and that various changes in the details of constructionmay be resorted to by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the invention. It is furthermore understood thatthe invention is not necessarily limited or restricted to the preciseelements shown except in so far as such limitations are speci lied inthe subject matter being claimed.

Having shown and described my invention, what I new claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent of the 'United States is l vhat Iclaim is:

1. An apparatus for the purpose set forth comprising the combinationwith an internal combustion motor of a motor vehicle, of a fluidpressure operated brake mechanism, a fluid pressure reservoir, a controlmeans for the supply of fluid pressure from said reservoir to saidmechanism to operate the latter, a valve mechanism including a housing,a primary conduit leading from said housing to said reservoir andprovided intermediate its ends with a check valve, an auxiliary conduitextending from one of the cylinders of the motor to said housing andpermanently in communication with said primary conduit and normallyclosed to said cylinder, means for conducting the products of'combustionfrom certain of the cylinders of said motor to said housing andcommunicating with said primary conduit throu h said housin for the assa'e of the b 2% in products of combustion from said cylinders to saidreservoir, and means for opening said auxiliary conduit to the saidcylinder of the motor to provide for a supply of air to the reservoirwhen the motor is operated from the momentum of the vehicle and notfiring, and said valve mechanism including means for closingcommunication between said primary conduit and said conducting meansduring the supply of air through said auxiliary conduit to saidreservoir.

2. An apparatus for the purpose set forth comprising the combinationwith an inter-- nal combustion motor of a motor vehicle, of a fluidpressure operated brake mechanism, a fluid pressure reservoir, a controlmeans for the supply of fluid pressure from said reservoir to-saidmechanism for operating the latter, valve mechanism including a pair ofvalve elements, a primary conduit leading from said mechanism to saidreservoir and provided with a check valve, a pair of conduits leadingfrom certain of the cylinders of the motor for conducting the productsof combustion from said cylinders to said valve mechanism and eachhaving associated therewith one of said valve elements, and a cut-offvalve mounted in one of the conduits of said pair of conduits, saidprimary conduit permanently communicating with said valve mechanism andfurther having communication between it and said pair of conduitscontrolled by said valve elements.

3. An apparatus for the purpose set forth comprising the combinationwith an internal combustion motor of a motor vehicle, of a fluidpressure operated brake mechanism, a fluid pressure reservoir, a controlmeans for the supply of fluid pressure from said reservoir to saidmechanism for operat ing the latter, a valve mechanism including a pairof valve elements, a primary c0nduit leading from said valve mechanismto said reservoir and provided with a check valve, a pair of conduitsleading from certain of the cylinders of the motor for conducting theproducts of combustion from said cylinders to said valve mechanism andeach having associated therewith one of said valve elements, a cut-ofivalve mounted in one of the conduits of said pair of conduits, saidprimary conduit communicating with said pair of conduits through saidvalve mechanism and further having such communication controlled by saidvalve elements, an auxiliary conduit leading from said valve mechanismto another of the cylinders of the motor and permanently communicatingwith said primary conduit and normally closed to the said cylinder, andmeans for opening said auxiliary conduit to the said cylinder to providefor the supply of air to the reservoir from the said cylinder when themotor is operated from the momentum of the vehicle and not firing.

l. An apparatus for the purpose set forth comprising the combinationwith the'motor of a motor vehicle, said motor including a series ofcylinders, of a valve mechanism including a housing provided with a pairof ball valves, conduits connecting certain of the cylinders of themotor with said housing for conducting spent gases to the housing whenthe motor is firing, a fluid pressure reservoir opening into saidhousing, a brake cylinder, a conduit connecting said brake cylinder withsaid reservoir, a valve interposed between said brake cylinder andreservoir for controlling the fluid from the reservoir to said cylinder,and an auxiliary valved conduit leading from said housing andcommunicating with one of the cylin-- clers of the motor for supplyingair to said reservoir through said housing when the motor is operatedfrom the momentum of the vehicle and not firing.

5. An apparatus JEor the purpose set forth comprising the combinationwith the motor of a motor vehicle, said motor including a series ofcylinders, of a fluid pressurereservoir, a controlling means for thesupply of fluid pressure from said reservoir to said mechanism "foroperating the latter, a valve mechanism including a housing providedWith a pair of hall valves, a primary conduit leading from said housingto said reservoir and provided With a check valve, a

pair of conduits leading from the ends of said housing to certain of thecylinders of the motor for conducting the products of combustion fromthe said cylinders to said housing and each having associated there withone of said ball valves, and said primary conduit permanentlycommunicating through said housing with said pair of conduits and havingsuch communication controlled hy said ball valves In testimony whereof,I afiix my signature hereto.

CLYDE JOHN MONERNY.

